external DVD player and Monterey iOS

I'm not sure if what I have to add will be helpful. But, here goes. I have a MacBook Air I bought in 2017. I use an external apple cd/dvd drive connected to one of the USB ports on the MacBook and all was fine until I upgraded the OS to Monterey v12.1 today. While installing Monterey, a pop up advised that the dvd/cd drive I'd always used would not work. I continued regardless (probably an unwise decision, on reflection). So, once installed, I plugged the external cd/dvd drive into the usb and, indeed, with the new Monterey 12.1 OS installed, Finder could not detect the external drive and having done all the checks and balances, still no luck. So, then, I decided to leave the cd/dvd drive connected by USB and just put a dvd into it and see what happened ..... and lo and behold, the dvd instantly opened and began to play the dvd regardless of Monterey OS 12.1 not identifying that the external drive even existed. I do not understand this at all but am glad that the external drive plays dvd's and cd's regardless. Good luck and I hope you find a solution to your current issue.

Are you connecting it directly to the Mav (not through a hub?

Does the manufacture say it will work with your Mac?

Is it powered by the bus?

Or does it have its own power supply?

Sometimes some optical drives require too much power to by powered by the computer. Sometimes using a powered hub will supply enough power.

If you go to About This Mac>Overview>System Report>Hardware>USB (try Thunderbolt too) is the optical drive listed?

So I was able to find a solution. The problem seems to be associated with the power needed to run the CD drives. I bought this drive from Amazon that comes with its own separate power cord: ROOFULL External CD/DVD +/-RW Drive USB 3.0 Type-C with 2 USB Ports & SD/TF Reader & Protective Carrying Case, Portable CD DVD Optical Drive Burner for Windows 11/10 Laptop PC, MacBook Pro/ Air, iMac https://a.co/d/dmo3j4W

it works great as long as you hook up the drive via the usb on a separate dongle. I have the drive connected to the dongle and the power adapter and it works immediately once I insert the CD. Apple Music shows up every time.

The problem (one of them at least) appears to be MacBooks with M type processors with Monterey macOS. I have Is a MacBook Pro with M1 processors and Monterey 12.3, 12.4 then 12.5.  My external drive worked fine before upgrading to Monterey so my problem wasn’t the power.  Apple seems to not care about this problem at all. There are workarounds but some seem flakey.  Some said to use a hub but two hubs and three drives later nothing worked for me. Thanks to other comments I tried I’ve found that the Rioddas ($19 Amazon) external drive seems to work fine with a hub. It even works fine with an Anker “USB C Adapter.”  It’s about an inch long and comes as a two pack for $14 (Amazon).  With that, if you in a DVD or CD it will begin to play immediately. If you put in a blank disk, a window opens prompting you to open Disk Utility which will list the dive (Slimtype DVD).  I just burned a full DVD in 12 minutes so throughput is not a problem. When searching for Rioddas on Amazon, the drive is there but the name is only in the photo. The name is in the detail after you go there. 

For what it's worth, here is what I have lately discovered: A dvd player loaded with a disc will show up on the MacBook Pro Monterey screen after a few minutes. Not seconds, as always before, but minutes. I have tested this three times. I turn to other things and when I come back to it, some minutes later, the icon shows on my screen. Then I can play or rip files to the laptop. This evening I connected a thumb drive via USB C converting dongle, and it is the same thing. Whereas a thumb drive always before showed within a couple of seconds, now it takes minutes. I haven't counted them. But, minutes. So if that helps ease any frustration with this odd quirk in Monterey, that's good.

I have a MacBook Pro 2021 and was having trouble getting an LG external cd/dvd player to be seen by my Mac on Monterey 12.5.1. I tried the USB /thunderbolt port adapter I have and it didn't work. Then I tried a multi-connecter and it worked. Basically this plugs into 2 thunderbolt ports to work. I'm guessing maybe it needed more power to run the cd/dvd drive? This is the adapter I got from Amazon:

MacBook Pro/Air USB Accessories with 3 USB 3.0 Ports, TF/SD Card Reader, Thunderbolt 3 PD Port, USB C Adapter for MacBook Pro/Air 13" 15" 16" Compatible with MacBook Pro/Air 2021-2016 by RayCue.

Hope this helps someone!

The drive will not show in finder until a CD is inserted into the drive.

Thank you . Even In my case a workaround worked. Connecting the USB-C dvd writer to a USB-C hub solve the problem. It's so strange but happy that at least it works.

Truly outstanding! Seriously, it doesn't make sense, but your workaround works great! I've had the same problem, external DVD drive worked on my wife's old MacBookPro and would not work on her new MacBookPro even after buying official Apple USB-C to USB-A adapter; the drive would power on but just keep clicking and not work. I then attached a USB hub from my PC to the adapter, attach the drive to the hub, and like magic it starts working like normal.

Thank you so much for sharing this easy fix!

Hi - I had this issue with Big Sur after an update. Installed Monterey and had same problem.

Tried a diff drive and it works. The disc icon appears within seconds on my desktop.

I'm able to listen to music and transfer audio tracks to my mac mini M1.

The drive I'm using is a MthsTec USB 3.0 and Type-C I paid $100 in 2020. It's now selling for $80. Weird the price went down.

They list this drive as available on Amazon.

Hope this helps someone.

James G in Santa Rosa

Installing Mac OS 12.3 has fixed this for me.

My solution was to update macOS Monterey to 12.5.1. After a restart, the computer could see the DVD drive (Samsung SE-506)

I spoke with Apple support and unfortunately was told that my Super Driver is not compatible with my MacBook Pro. She also said that Apple is not offering any drive to replace, etc. One must look to third party sources!

Actually also mine works if connected to an external USB-C hub (which I think every Macbook user has). So this is a working workaround.

Ditto to all of the above.

Running Monterey 12.4. on MacBook Pro. (System preferences shows Thunderbolt not connected. About this Mac/System/Hardware/USB shows the drive )

My Apple dvd writer worked fine on previous iOS systems, where the desktop and finder both showed the icon for the writer. Finder showed the eject icon if a disk was in. Right click on desktop icon showed eject icon,

Now, once a cd or dvd is inserted, top left menu bar shows "DVD player" BUT ONLY if the player content is on the screen. If anything else is on the desktop--like this support page--"DVD player" does not show. To eject the disc, the "DVD player" menu item must show. Then, under Controls (which shows only if "DVD player" shows) the "Eject disc" menu item shows. This appears to work.

I looked under System preferences, and if a cd or dvd is in the drive, it will show "cd/dvd" open that and there is the choice of "Show eject button in menu bar." The button shows, but it doesn't work. Click on it, and it shows "No drives."

This is insane! A system that used to work so smoothly and efficiently is now complicated and difficult, definitely not user friendly. Why????????

When I connected the Apple dvd writer last night, nothing showed, and I thought I would have to buy yet another Apple DVD/CD external drive. There has been quite a bit of help on this forum page, but Apple really should not have created this problem.

I haven't tried to write to the disc yet.

Sorry this is so disorganized. I'm editing as I find things.